Controversial Episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tackle Current Social Issues

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been a cult favorite for 25-35 year olds since it made its debut on the WB on March 10, 1997. With many doubters wondering if the show could distance itself from the failed movie many tuned in and ate their words. The show takes up where the movie left off and is based on 16 year old high school student Buffy Summers who has moved to Sunnydale California after being kicked out of her previous school. The idea of a science fiction show that involves vampire slaying was at best a laughable concept but with all the other boring drivel that was being produced at that time it was a refreshing look at teen angst. Buffy is the Slayer, the one girl in all the world chosen to protect us from vampires and demons. An insane idea you might say but it looked at the trials and tribulations of a teenage girl with the added responsibility of saving the world. Buffy went through the dating scene, trying to keep her grades up, being popular, and having friends all while slaying at night and saving the world on the weekends.

The show all throughout its history has stayed on the edge of programming. Some episodes caused quite a stir bringing current social issues to the forefront as well as using many metaphors to protest the government. After the Columbine shooting in Colorado the country was still in shock that two students could change so many lives in such a violent fashion. Before Columbine the writers at BVS (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) had already completed filming an episode called Earshot in which Buffy inherits the power to read minds from a demon and overhears a student plotting to kill other students at school. After Columbine the producers and creators decided to delay the airing, originally set for April 27, 1999, of the episode out of respect for those who died. Buffy is not far from controversy and has always walked a fine line between what is fact and what is fiction.